Burning in the Skies
by Seren147
Summary: Bakura finally completes his plan to exact the ultimate revenge upon the Pharaoh.  Can Ryou stop him before it's too late?  Or will Bakura annihilate the world in the process?  Rated for safety, BxR, AU/post-Millennium World.


Hi everyone! Looks like I am on a writing kick this week. Hope you all enjoy! Here's my latest, loosly inspired by the song "Burning in the Skies" by Linkin Park. You can find the verses of inspiration below:

_I used the deadwood to make the fire rise_  
><em>The blood of innocence burning in the skies<em>  
><em>I filled my cup with the rising of the sea<em>  
><em>And poured it out in an ocean of debris<em>

_I'm swimming in the smoke_  
><em>Of bridges I have burned<em>  
><em>So don't apologize<em>  
><em>I'm losing what I don't deserve<em>

_We held our breath when the clouds began to form_  
><em>But you were lost in the beating of the storm<em>  
><em>But in the end we were made to be apart<em>  
><em>Like separate chambers of the human heart<em>

_It's in the blackened bones  
>Of bridges I have burned<br>So don't apologize  
>I'm losing what I don't deserve<em>

Rating: T, but only for safety since the plot is a little dark. But then again, it IS Bakura POV, so how can it NOT be dark?

Also, shout out to _**BakuBakuRemix**_ for drawing some fabulous, wonderful fanart for this fic! *squee* You can find the link to the art in my profile!

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><p><strong><em>Burning in the Skies<em>**

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><p>I look around me. Everything is burning. It looks as if the sky is on fire. I walk slowly through the desolate streets. This section of Domino seems to have been mostly evacuated, but I can still hear screaming in the distance. Someone is begging for help.<p>

Well, they won't find it with me. I am the creator of their destruction; the author of their demise. Besides, it's too late to stop what has already begun. What I have dreamed about for centuries; millennia. My quest for vengeance has led to the world being set on fire. There is nowhere safe now. The blood of many, hell, what am I thinking, _**all**_ lie on my hands.

I smirk to myself. Did the Pharaoh ever see this coming? Could he even _imagine_ what it would mean to destroy one village, five thousand years ago? That it would lead to the annihilation of the very world itself? That's what happens when you leave one such as me left alive. Intentionally or not…_he_ is the reason my spirit could not leave, could not be at peace with my village. So really…he is to blame for the world ending. I wish I could tell him this, to crush his conscious. To watch him feel the weight of their blood and their death and know it is all his doing. To know he will not sit upon a throne once all this is done, but will writhe in hell, where he belongs. I long to see his face after telling him that. After _condemning_ him. That would be the icing on the cake.

Yet, did I take it too far? To put into the play the death of everybody in the world so that I could have my revenge on one person who is already dead? Although his spirit lived on, and while it lived, I could have no rest. I did what I had to; I used Ryou's body and I _took_ what I wanted, didn't I? The millennium items, one by one, and with them, the ghosts of my destroyed village, their spirits still alive and crying out for blood from within each golden piece. Their voices intensified within me with each item I obtained, spurring me on, lending me their supernatural power to take them all and use them to open the gateway of destruction…the gateway to Zorc, the destroyer of worlds.

Ash drifts down and smudges my clothes, my face, and my hair. One of the by-products of uniting the seven millennium items was ripping me from Ryou, to Zorc, and then to my own body. Although I do not expect to have my own body long. I will join this demise once all is gone. Then finally _their_ voices will stop, and maybe I can have the peace I have so long desired. I will have fulfilled my destiny.

My thoughts are broken when I hear someone coughing and gagging nearby, and then I hear their footfalls pounding the pavement. I look in the direction the noise is coming from; a side alley. A figure emerges from the ruin and smoke.

It's Ryou.

I watch him as he looks around wildly, a bundle of cloth held up to his nose and mouth to try to keep the smoke and pollution at bay. I wonder how long that will last.

He sees me, stops and squints hard as if to make sure it really is me, and then runs over to me.

"Bakura!" he shouts, "I've been looking everywhere for you! You have to make it stop! PLEASE!" He grabs my arm, which I swiftly shake him off of. He looks at me with pleading eyes, water running from them, making ivory paths down his dirty cheeks. He rips the cloth away from his face and grabs both of my shoulders, shaking me. "YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS!"

I just look at him, expression unchanged. I would have never let him talk to me or treat me like this before, but what does it matter anymore? It's all dust and ash in the wind, now. Quite literally. So I tell him the truth. "I _can't_ stop this Ryou." I shrug. "It's too late."

He looks at me with incomprehension in his eyes. "But…but you started it!"

I raise my eyebrows slightly in amusement. I poured all of my hatred and fury into this final act, and now I find dark amusement taking its place. A chuckle starts deep in my throat, and before I know it, I'm throwing my head back and cackling into the filthy wind. We stand like that for I don't know how long, Ryou gripping my shoulders roughly and me laughing into the dust, into the fire. Then suddenly I'm not laughing anymore, I'm on the ground. Ryou stands over me angrily. I grab my cheek and look up at him in amazement. "You…you hit me?" Suddenly this all seems very funny again and I laugh as I pick myself up. "I did _not_ just bring about the end of the world to be slapped by someone like _you,_ my pathetic little host."

I grab him and turn him around quickly, twisting his arm up. I snake my arm around his neck and squeeze. "How much can your lungs take, little Ryou? Hmmmm? How much damage has the smoke already done?" He gasps for breath and tries to use his good hand to pry my arm from his neck, but I just twist his captive arm further up his back. He lets out a strangled whimper and then starts coughing weakly.

"That's what I thought, _landlord_."

I push him away from me and he falls to the ground, coughing. I eye the blaze behind him; it has been steadily drawing nearer to us during this whole escapade. The fire is huge, and steadily consuming everything in its path. Soon it will reach the very spot where we are now standing.

"It's too late, Ryou. I did everything in my power to start this, there's no _way_ I'm going to stop it." I look down on him in contempt, wondering if I should walk away now, or let this play out a little longer. I take another look around. Soon this whole city will collapse. And that's just the start. Zorc would already have half of the world in flames by now; the other half soon to follow. Truth be told, it was beyond my power to stop him. The moment he was released into this world was the moment it was too late to turn back.

"H…He'll…win." Ryou coughed out, pulling himself up to his feet. He found his footing after a moment and looked at me. "Zorc is destroying this world, not you."

I narrow my eyes at his words. "What are you saying?"

Ryou takes a deep breath. "I'm saying, you don't win. You wanted your vengeance, yet it's Zorc who is taking it, not you! Where is Atem now? Do you even know? You don't, do you?"

"He's dead!" I roar, unable to stop the outburst of emotion. "He's dead! That traitor is dead! Just like he should have stayed dead five thousand years ago!"

Ryou smirks at me. "You don't know that."

I feel my eyes widen in surprise. "What?" My voice barely comes out above a whisper.

I can see Ryou's resolve as he walks up to me, unafraid. "He's not dead. You may have unleashed Zorc on the entire world, but did you _see_ Atem die? Any of _them _die?"

What he's saying…should be impossible. Atem was in the same room as I was when Zorc was released…that whole building was the first to burst into flames…but then again, I was still in Ryou's body up until that moment. Then my spirit had latched on to Zorc; then I was outside, in my own body. Yet Ryou being here now…that could mean that the others survived too…I didn't even _think_ of that possibility, not even at the moment I saw Ryou. Somehow his survival did not surprise me; did not raise any red flags for me…

"GOD **DAMN **IT!" I rage at the sky. I _didn't_ see it, I didn't see _him_ die, I had assumed though…I had assumed only Ryou survived because of me…

"And now…how will you ever find him?"

I glare at Ryou. I want to kill him in this moment. My rage returned full force, I grab him by his coat and pull him up to my face. "Where is he?" I hiss. "Tell me now!"

He just smiles at me, so I shake him, hard. "TELL ME!"

"If you stop this…I will tell you."

My chest heaves up and down in my fury, and my fists clench and unclench themselves spastically in the grip they have on his coat.

"So you'd…betray your best friend?" I ask, dangerously. Just to make him realize what he is saying. "You know I will kill him. I _promise_ you, I will kill him."

Ryou lifts his hands up to mine and unwraps them forcefully from his coat. He takes a step back, smoothing out his jacket. "I know." He says simply. "And yes."

"Don't try to justify this by saying it would be for the greater good. You'd be as guilty of his murder as I would be."

"I know."

My rage settles just a little, and then that dark amusement starts to make its way back into me. I place a smirk on my face while I get a hold of my inner emotions. "Who would have thought…Ryou, the murderer?"

He looks at me without saying anything. I know what he's thinking though. I spent enough time in that head of his to know.

"You're justifying it by knowing it would be the same decision that self-righteous prick would make. That he would _gladly_ sacrifice himself if it meant saving the world." I mock. "But where was he when it came to sacrificing himself for my village? _He's_ the murderer!"

My voice echoes back to me from among the empty streets and I realize my emotions have gotten the best of me again.

Ryou walks over to me and rests his hand on my arm. "Then stop this. And kill him yourself. Instead of letting Zorc do your dirty work for you."

I hit him before the last word finishes leaving his mouth, and he falls to the ground again. "_I'm_ the one who released Zorc! He's doing _exactly_ what I want him to do! I orchestrated everything! The mastermind is me! I am responsible for all of this; he is merely the instrument I chose to end it all with!"

Ryou listens to my rant while he picks himself up, yet again. He stares into my eyes, less self-assured now and with more sorrow.

"Then do it for me, Bakura."

I start at his words, a laugh almost escaping my lips. Did I hear him right?

"_What?"_

Ryou licks his lips, glancing down at the asphalt, then back up at me. "Do it for me. Don't you owe me that? After everything you put me through? After everything you made me _do_?"

"Everything I made you _do_?" I echo. "Why do you think I called you _landlord?_ You think I liked having _you_ for a host?"

"Of course not, Bakura. You made that quite clear on a number of occasions." Ryou's voice rose in anger. "And you think I liked having _you_ take over my body? Do things to the people I loved? Do you?"

"Then it was an unpleasurable experience for both of us. I guess that makes it a wash." I turn to go, but he grabs my arm, even more desperate now.

"You have your own body now. You can do whatever you please! You're willing to say goodbye to it this soon? And what about me? Maybe…maybe!"

I turn and see the look in his eyes. I almost can't believe it. _Almost._ But then again, I've been in his head; I know his secret thoughts and desires. "Surely you don't mean the even remote possibility of there being an '_us'._" I say.

Under the dirt and ash, I see his cheeks flame red.

"You do." I state.

He opens his mouth, the words spilling out. "I've seen into your mind too, Bakura. And I _know_ what they did to you, ok? I know how much you have hurt and have been haunted by your past! You never had _anyone_! No one ever told you they loved you, or hugged you, or told you it was going to be ok! Because it will be, Bakura. It will be ok. You can get past this. I can help you. I can…"

I make a noise of disgust and pull away from him. At the same time, the building behind Ryou collapses in on itself, and hot air rushes towards us from the force. The gust blows Ryou's hair around his face, and miniscule embers of fiery debris float in the air around us.

There's not much time left.

"Ryou, you can't save me." Let it be as simple as that.

Protests are on his lips but I put my hand up to stop him.

"What you're trying to save is something that died centuries ago. I'm not that little boy anymore. And I'm not helpless."

More water trails down the ivory paths on his cheeks, and I can't tell if it's from the smoke or if he is crying. Maybe it's both.

For what it's worth…I do wish it didn't have to be like this. I wish I never had to come into his life and ruin it. I know the damage that I have caused. But if I said that, would it really matter? What's done is done, and I _am_ here, and it _did_ happen this way. It _had_ to happen this way. And after all these years, I accomplished it…

"I know…" Ryou pants, and I realize he's getting weaker from the smoke and the heat. My body is feeling it too; I forgot how it felt to…live…again.

"Then…will you stop this?" he asks me. "I can take you…to him…" The smoke swirls thick around us now, but he doesn't budge. I finally roll my eyes and grab him, roughly pulling him away from it and further down the street. He stumbles after me, but I don't let up my pace.

"I told you, Ryou. I _can't_ stop it. Even if I wanted to."

He searches my eyes, finally understanding exactly what I meant. "You can't stop Zorc." He whispers, horrified. He brings his hand up to his mouth. "Bakura…what have you _done?_"

I laugh at him and gesture around me. "You really thought I could stop this? Half the world is burning, and you thought it was going to be ok?" I laugh again, hysterically. Really? _Really?_ Why _would _I stop this, anyway? This is what I wanted, what I have always wanted, and now I have it…

The wind gusts around me and I close my eyes. _My_ eyes. I can smell the smoke and burning rubber and melting plastic. I can feel the wind and where tiny pinpricks of burning debris have hit my body, leaving small, hot burns in their wake. I can hear the roar of the fire.

In this moment, I wish I could keep my body a little bit longer. I forgot what it was like, to just…_be._

But this is the price I have paid. And will pay.

Ryou is still looking at me, too horrified to speak.

Really, what else did he expect from me?

I level my gaze at him, and this seems to break the spell.

He rushes at me, grabbing onto me. "Then let's go, Bakura. Let's run!"

"Run where?" I ask. "There's no where left to go. Zorc will destroy every living thing. There is no safe place to hide."

"But…but there must be somewhere! Somewhere we can go! You _must_ know someplace. You've survived for five thousand years; this can't be the end!" He throws his arms around my neck and clings to me. "I'll stay with you Bakura! Until the end!"

I let him hold me for a short time before I pull back. He grabs my head in his hands and I know a split second what he's going to do before he does it.

Our lips crash together and he's kissing me, hungrily, desperately, and I never imagined in all the time I've been with him that he would do this. How is it possible he feels this way, after everything I have done to him? And now, to the world?

I open my mouth to his and push my tongue in, savoring the heat and the taste and the sensation. I pull him roughly to me, plying our bodies together. One of my hands works its way into his tangled hair, still soft despite everything. For a moment my resolve wavers. I blame it on having a physical body again.

But still…

Our kiss lasts what seems like a lifetime but is probably no more than a minute. When it is over, Ryou tucks his face into my neck, and now I know for sure he is crying.

"Don't leave me…" he murmurs.

I wrap my arms around him, holding him just this once. It will never happen again.

"I have to, Ryou. Until I see the Pharaoh's dead body or until every last person in this world is dead, I have to be sure he _pays_ for his crimes."

"But…what about…everyone…" he sniffs, and I feel his hot tears run down my neck and under my shirt.

I breathe in his scent one last time, and then step back from him. "There's nothing I can do anymore. It is done."

"We could have had a life together, you know." His voice hitches sadly. "I…I…I think I could have made you…happy…"

"I don't deserve happiness, Ryou. My fate has only ever been hate and destruction. It's time to end it all. You're…something I would have never deserved."

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><p><strong><em>Epilogue<em>**

That was the last time I ever saw Ryou Bakura. I had left him there, standing in the middle of that deserted street, with not so much as a backwards glance. I don't know what happened to him; whether he still lives or if he died.

It's been forty-two days since then. I've counted every single morning that the sun rose. It's getting harder each day; you can barely see it now through all the ash. Darkness pervades the world now, and a constant rain of soot, ash and dust. Everything is either red with fire or burned, blackened rubble. There is no third choice.

I never found the body of Atem. But it doesn't matter anymore; I know he _will_ die if he hasn't already. Zorc has promised me that I will be the last remaining human alive. I have passed thousands of corpses during this time, so that can't be too far off. By that time, Ryou and Atem and everyone else will definitely be dead, and I will go to join my family of Kul Elna, finally…and Ryou.

~fin~

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><p>So what did you guys think? Beauty of the annhilation, eh? Which...is also a song lol. Hmm, which could also be fitting for this fic. Anyway! I really like how this turned out. And it looks like I'm digging back in my old style. Cool. So what did you guys think?<p>

Review please?

~Seren147


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